Art Objects

The portfolio grouping of "Art Objects" comes from an exploration of mundane items represented in painting or sculpture reproductions. By drawing attention to these objects- a larger narrative is being addressed of arbitrary values that we choose to assign to items in our everyday lives.

Below are groupings of works where these explorations take place.

From an exploration of the auction site eBay, Delgado explores the monetary value that is placed on nostalgia and rarity. Being back on the auction site he began looking up items that wouldn’t be considered of any value for most but a few individuals; therefore having a very niche audience. From this, Delgado chose to start depicting the auctioned objects and related items in paintings and sculptures to further highlight the duality of both importance and mundaneness that these objects hold. These paintings exhibit these rediscovered ideas of scarcity, collections, and selective value.

"Amazonian Days" exhibited at Art League Houston in 2023. The artwork depicts objects from 2021-2022 that the artist was given while working at an Amazon warehouse. During that year it became an occurrence of hours being cut due to shipping shortages while also giving employees random incentives- mostly in the form of gifts. The gifts, that ranged from treats to food & workwear, were documented when received and later rendered in acrylic on panel. These still lifes hold as placeholders of Amazon exchanging and bartering labor hours with gifts. Other instances of odd labor compensation come to mind for Delgado such as when his family first immigrated to the United States from Mexico- during which, those family members would be compensated less than minimum wage but at the same time given gifts of furniture & appliances. These still life paintings along with paintings of scenes from the warehouse highlight this occurrence of employer to employee gifting dynamic.